If you walk around in Berlin with open eyes and with a bit of attention towards the male sex you might have noticed: People love beards here. And it’s not just a hipster thing like in many other big cities. Here in Berlin a man needs a beard, the bigger the better. Girls love, boys love it and can’t have enough of it.

I personally think that every man looks better with a beard. Certainly there are men who look amazing without it too, but surely will look even better with some facial hair. I guess it’s no coincedent that the core I HEART BERLIN team of Claudio, Devid and myself sport a beard as well. And it’s no coincedent either, that one of our favorite series on the blog is the Beard Monologues by our guest contributor Alicia Kassebohm.

So with all this beard loving it was about time that someone wrote a book about it. Apparently this is what a good friend and work mate of mine thought. Together with author Kevin Clarke he compiled a great compendium of manly beards with lots of photos and texts about the history of facial hair, the styles in different cultures and it’s meaning and appearance in pop culture and fashion. The book was released by Berlin-based publisher Bruno Gmünder and has the spot-on title BEARDS – An Unshaved History. You can win a copy now on our Lucky Thursday! They also have their own dedicated beard lover Facebook page – make sure to follow.

photo: Michael Alago

photos: inkedKenny

photo: Ulrich Hartmann

photo: Sean Johnson

photo: Patrick Mettraux

To win a copy of BEARDS – An Unshaved History just leave a comment below until Sunday (Febuary 23, 2014) at midnight and use a valid eMail address in the form. While you are at it, tell us what you like about beards or if you have one yourself and why. Good luck!

I’m pretending to have a beard… but a beard that takes others 5 days takes me 2 weeks.
Beards just give the right amount of natural untackiness to a guy’s face! And many guys just look much better with beards than without!

I think I have what one might call bear envy. I love beards in all shapes and sizes but I’ve never quite been able to grow a full one myself. So, I settled on the goatee style. Its fine, suits my face and everything but I love a good beard on a man so I guess I’d like to win this book to increase my jealousy factor!

I Love Beards so much – I have a Barber Shop were Beards are being taken care of with love. Some of those pictures are the most masculine, sensual and tasty pictures in one that I have seen…. Thanks for that